Gluten-free Food and Restaurants in Italy

where I can find good gluten-free Italian food in restaurants in Milan? I’ve been “told” that some restaurants in Italy even offer gluten free pasta. I did see that you posted about the grocery shop Natura Si, which sells gluten free products and great if you live there, but I’m like to find where we can eat out as a visitor without a kitchen. ~ Jaime

Jaime,

While I’m not gluten-free myself (though I often experiment with gluten-free recipes, alternative flours, and grains like chestnut flour muffins, quinoa and the recent flourless Chocolate Nutella cake) I can imagine the difficulty in traveling to foreign countries and not being able to serenely order from a menu.

Here’s some of my advice, and I strongly welcome comments from actual celiac disease sufferers with experience eating and traveling in Italy. I’ll incorporate some of the best / most helpful comments back into this post as well.

Some people recommend just saying, “Sono celiaco/a” (a for women, o for men) when traveling in Italy but I don’t think it’s quite enough. While everyone in Italy will understand what the disease is, it’s not guaranteed that they can or will accommodate your special needs. Italian restaurants and people are normally sensitive but they won’t always rearrange their menu and cook a special order, and it’s a bad assumption to make when arriving at any restaurant. Another useful phrase to ask is “è senza glutine?” (is (it) gluten-free?)

Ideally, you would call ahead of time to check a) if there are any gluten-free options already on the menu, or b) if you bring your own gluten-free pasta, will they cook it for you. If you have even more time, and the restaurant is online/has an email address, try sending the following message (not perfect, but it’ll do):

For people suffering from celiac disease, it is possible to eat well and travel in Italy – the land of pizza and pasta.

Please note that the smaller town you visit, the fewer options you might have. Luckily Milan is a big city with a lot of options for you. You can get gluten-free pasta at many pharmacies and definitely at health food stores like Natura Sì (Porta Venezia & Centrale/Gioia metro), and some international stores like SuperPolo (Moscova metro stop) might be good options if you want to pop in and get a few packages of pasta to bring with you. Many of the larger supermercati will have rice cakes, gluten-free crackers, and probably some sort of pasta di riso (rice pasta). In any case, I would stick a package in your luggage/purse that you can have on hand for a backup.

To find a gluten-free-friendly restaurant, I suggest you visit the Associazione Italiana Celiachia (AIC). I can’t provide a list of restaurants and hope it will stay updated on this site – but they are committed to providing one for restaurants (ristoranti), gelaterie, and even bed & breakfasts. They also give a phone number to call inside Italy: 89.24.24. The English section of the site is currently offline, but they have a Facebook page and might be a good place to get some information or possible feedback before your trip.

To use, go to the Restaurants section, click on “Seleziona un regione” (choose your region) in the drop-down – the names of the 20 Italian regions are in Italian. If you’re not sure what region the city you’re visiting is in, a quick Google search for “cityname regione Italia” and it will probably turn up the answer. For Milan, we’ll select “Lombardia” (Lombardy region) and you can further narrow down the results by selecting “Provincia” province. Google can also help you find this out “cityname provincia Italia.”

Once you get the results, click on the restaurant name and you should get an address and phone number.

Breakfast is probably the most difficult meal to eat gluten-free, as it’s mainly a piece of bread or Italian croissant with jam and of course coffee. Eggs and other savory breakfast items are not part of the normal Italian breakfast. You may try to request gluten-free crackers, fresh fruit (frutta fresca) or yogurt as alternatives, but bringing a few options from home is always a good idea if you need a hearty breakfast while in Italy.

Do you have suggestions for finding gluten-free food in Italy? What are your favorite Italian dishes that are gluten-free as they are?

If you have a food-related question, contact me with “Ask Ms. Adventures in Italy” in the subject line and I might answer it online!

This was a perfect post! I have been following you for a while, and 2 weeks ago I arrived in Milan to study abroad. One of my friends has celiac and it has been quite an adjustment to Italy for her. We went to a restaurant last night called Bio Solaire (Via Terraggio, 20) and they were very accomodating. If you ask beforehand they get gluten-free pizza dough and make rice cake bruschetta. The waitress was the nicest person I’ve met, and I highly recommend it.

@David – I’ll have to pay more attention – I’ve never noticed them!
@Rebecca – excellent links, thanks for sharing them!
@Tiana – glad this post got you to come out and comment :) I’ve been to a Bio Solaire on Via Valtellina, I wonder if they are a chain – thanks for the recommendation!

Thanks for bringing attention to this prickly problem. I am both gluten and lactose intolerant and when eating out usually just stick to vegetables and meat or fish, always checking first that they don’t have breading, flour or cheeses added on.

Hi Sara
People are always amazed that there are so many Italians with celiac disease. Here in Vancouver, all the Italian delis have gluten free pasta-including gnocchi made with brown rice flour and potato. they are really good.
One thing I have noticed in Italy though (I go to Puglia every year) is that often farro (spelt) is considered gluten-free. While it is very low in gluten, it isn’t gluten-free. Don’t know if that piece of info will be useful to anyone. thanks for the interesting post! Cristina

To echo James above, one of the best and easiest places to stock up on gluten free goods is in pharmacies . Most larger supermarkets will carry a line of gluten free pasta, crackers and snacks. Riso Scotti, a popular line of rice-flour pasta is gluten free.

Venice also has a specialty store with gluten-free products, a minute off the main drag that many people use to walk from the station to San Marco (Cannaregio 3803 – Calle Priuli off Strada Nova) called Mea Libera Tutti

There is a store dedicated to gluten-free products at the corner of Domodossola and Viale Boezio in Milan.
If you’d like to share my personal take on life in Milan, I’d like to invite you to visit my blog: http://mymilanitaly.blogspot.com. It would make me very happy! Thanks!

Sorry about having put the URL for my blogspot.com blog, mymilanitaly, in the post…the “Note” is so small that it made for hard reading for these poor ol’ eyes, and I saw the warning too late, and can’t see how to delete so as to rewrite my post. Will do a better job next time, sorry and thanks!

Hi Sara-
I’m just back from Milano last week and it was a great trip. Wanted to follow up on where we went!

I used the website Associazione Italiana Celiachia (AIC) that you gave above and mapped out places that were close to where we were staying (by Teatro Scala). At the restaurant, a simple “Senza glutine” was enough! At all of the places below, the staff spoke some English.

– La Rosa Dei Venti: Seafood restaurant where the chef is celiac. Homemade focaccia bread is well worth the trip. Gnocchipretty good too. This is the only place they told us its better to call ahead to inform the kitchen.

My husband has celiac disease. We are traveling in Rome then to Naples and then to Amalfi coast – staying in Sorrento and town of Amalfi for 12 days. We need eating information on both places on Amalfi Coast. Thanks for the wonderful website.